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A huge security scandal has made Argentina’s soccer team cancel their friendly match against Israel in Jerusalem, which was scheduled for this Saturday.

After the match was relocated from the coastal city of Haifa to Jerusalem, palestinian activists began protests not only in Jerusalem, but also outside of the Argentina soccer team’s training sessions in Barcelona. Protesters made public manifestations in which they burned Argentina’s jerseys and repeatedly threatened the team’s star Lionel Messi. In response, AFA’s president, Claudio Tapia, decided to cancel the match.

“My responsibility as the president of the A.F.A. is to work for the safety of my people, which is why I made this decision,” said Tapia

Palestinians’ protests against the match in Jerusalem were a result of the 120 unarmed palestinian protesters killed by Israeli officials during recent protests in Gaza. However, Israeli officials claim they fired in a mere act of self defense.

“It’s unfortunate the soccer knights of Argentina did not withstand the pressure of the Israeli-hating inciters, whose only goal is to harm our basic right to self-defense and bring about the destruction of Israel,” said Avigdor Liberman, Israeli Minister of Defense.

The Palestinian authorities on the other hand, praised Argentina’s decision

“The Israelis tried to use Messi and those stars from Argentina, and I would like to thank them and appreciate their decision, which I think was on the right track,” said Jibril Raboud, Palestinian Football Association president.

This incident represents a disadvantage for Argentina, as the other World Cup teams will be playing one more friendly match this weekend in order to analyze different tactics and set up their teams before the Cup . Argentina will now debut in Russia having played one training game less before they play against Iceland a week from now. Being a south American team, Argentina naturally has many fans at TCS, who regret the incident with Israel and wish Argentina could play once more before their debut.

“I am a huge fan of Messi and Argentina, and even though I feel relieved since Messi is no longer in danger, I do think it is a huge disadvantage for Argentina and it is really tragic that they can not train properly for the World Cup due to lack of tolerance and respect from Palestinians. I am worried that they might not have their tactics settled by next week,” said Federico caro, Senior Student (not for long after this article is released) at TCS.

Argentina’s national team will be arriving in Russia this Saturday, hoping to improve last World Cup´s performance.

“What happened… is a red card from the rest of the world to Israelis,” said Rajoub.